Vehicle-brake.



Nu. 688,795. Patented Dec. l0, I901;

B. W. SCOTT.

VEHICLE BRAKE.

(Application filed lgar. 14,,1901.)

(No Model.)

. lNVENTOH .5 5% 62 F j 5072 012 256202;

ATTORNEYS UNiTnn STaTns BARTON WV. SCOTT, OF SAh JOSE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO PATENT @FFTQE.

NILES E. \VRETMAN, OF SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA.

VEHICLE-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 688,795, dated December 10, 1901.. I Application filed March 14,1901. Serial No. 51,097. (No modelJ T0 to whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BARTON W. SCOTT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of San Jose, in the county of Santa Clara and State of California, have invented a new and Improved Vehicle-Brake, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a brake which is applicable to vehicles of any sort; and the object is to provide means by which the 1110111611" tum of the vehicle may be utilized to furnish the principal force for the application of the brakes. This is effected by mounting the brake-shoe so that the shoe or a part attached thereto will bear on a surface disposed tangentially to the periphery of the Wheel and by providing means for controlling the position of the brake-shoe. \Vhen the shoe is engaged with the wheel, the movement of the wheel will tend to press the shoe or a part connected therewith against the said tangential surface, and this surface will then act to force the shoe more firmly against the wheel. The resultof these operations is that the shoe will be bound against the wheel with a force increasing steadily in proportion to the speed of the wheel and the inclination of the surface on which the shoe is supported. There fore the force which applies the brake is derived from the momentum of the vehicle, and the only additional force that is necessary is the comparatively very slight power required to raise or lower the brake-shoe into and out of engagement with the wheel.

This specification is a specific description of one form of my invention, While the claims are definitions of the actual scope thereof.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, formin g a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the invention applied to a railroad-truck. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side View showing the application of the invention to a wagon, and Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the same parts.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a represents the railway-wheels, and a parts of a truck, which of course may be of any construction desired. 1) represents the brake-shoes, which are connected in transverse pairs by the brakebeams 12, all of which parts may be of any construction desired. Connected with the brakebeams Z) is any suitable mechanism (not shown in the drawings) by which the beam may be given a slight movement horizontally to move the shoes into and out of engagement with the wheels. This mechanism need not be sufficient to force the shoe with braking force against the wheels, but simply sufficient to effect a bare engagement between the parts. Connected with each brake-shoe by means of a bolt or pin a is a wheel 0, and these wheels are arranged to run on bars (1, forming the tangentially-disposed trackways or surfaces before referred to. These bars dare arranged according to the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, one above and one below each wheel 0. The bars (1 are used, however, only one at a time for each wheel cthat is to say, one is employed when the truck moves forwardly and the other is employed when the truck moves rearwardly.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that each wheel a is associated with two track-bars and that the left-hand wheel is engaged with the lower track-bar and the right-hand wheel is engaged with the upper track-bar. This is the position the parts will assume when the truck is running in the direction of the arrow in the figure referred to. \Vhen the movement of the truck is reversed, the position of the wheels 0 will be also reversed. The bars 01 are held rigidly in place by means of bolts d, which are engaged one with the free end of each part, the other ends of the bars being pivotally mounted on suitable portions of the truck a. The bolts d are provided with adjusting-nuts 02 which enable the bars (1 to be adjusted at any desired inclination. The steeper the inclination of the bars the more forcibly will the brakes be applied.

Assuming that the truck be in motion and that the parts be placed as in Fig. 1, the instant'the brake-shoes b are engaged. wit-h the wheels the friction attending this engagement will tend to carry the brake-shoes around with the wheels, and this will cause the shoewheels 0 to roll along the inclined surfaces on the bars 61. These bars are inclined toward the periphery of the wheels a, and thus the,

brake-shoe is wedged forcibly against the wheels at. The greater the movement of the wheels at the greater will be the force of this engagement. It will therefore be seen that the only power needed for the application of the brake is that power which is necessary in the first instance to simply engage the shoe with the wheel. The means for effecting this engagement form no part of my invention and have not, therefore, been illustrated. I prefer, however, to provide the usual airbrake mechanism when the brake is applied to railway-trains, although of course it will be understood that with my improvement the power of the brake mechanism need not be so great as that at present employed.

The application of my invention to wagons and other road-vehicles does not require a departure from the principle of myinvention.

. The brake-shoes 6 (see Figs. 3 and 4) are mounted on a beam e, as usual, and this beam is provided with a bearing device 6 carrying a wheel f, similar to the wheel a in Figs. 1 and 2. This wheel bears on an inclined lug g, similar to the bars d, said lug being fas tened to a plank or timber g, running under the brake-beam 2, parallel therewith, and secured to the hounds or to some other stationary part of the running vehicle. One of the bearing devices 6 of the brake-beam e is provided with a downwardly and laterally turned extension e which engages under the sup-- port g, so as to hold the brake-beam from moving upward. This form of the invention is adapted to apply the brake only when the vehicle is running forward, as contradistinguished from the application of the brake both upon forward and backward movement, as is effected by the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Assuming that the wheels of the wagon be turning in the direction of the arrow shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and that the brake-shoe be engaged with the wheel, the brake-shoe will be carried down slightly, and the brake-wheel f will ride along the inclined lug g, which will force the brake-shoe firmly against the wheel and apply the brake in the same manner as before described. It should be understood that the brake-beam 6 will be connected with suitable controlling mechanism similar to that in the ordinary hand-brake of vehicles. This mechanism I have not illustrated, since it may be applied in any form desired and does not relate to my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A brake, comprising a brake shoe, a wheel or roller in connection therewith, and a memberhaving an inclined surface on which the wheel rolls, whereby to force the brakeshoe into active position.

2. A Wheel-brake, comprising abrake-shoe, and members providing inclined surfaces, said members being stationary with respect to the brake-shoe, and on which surfaces the shoe or a part thereof bears, said members serving to force the brake-shoe into active position irrespective of the direction in which the wheel turns.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BARTON W. SCOTT.

Witnesses:

MORGAN MILES, N. E. WRETMAN. 

